Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Do not let your hearts be troubled

Jesus speaks these words after he has told his followers
that he is going away and that they can’t come with him;

He has also just told Peter, one of his first followers, that
he – Peter – will deny him three times.

That is pretty devastating. These are people who have put their
trust in Jesus and followed him for the last few years of their life.

Their faith in Jesus, and their faith in themselves, is going
to be radically tested.

Perhaps for some of us this whole Covid-19 thing has made us
question faith – particularly if difficult things have happened. Maybe we have
questioned Jesus – maybe we have been forced to question the integrity of our
own faith. When it gets tough, when my own well-being is threatened, will I
still live for him? Will I still put him first or will I just want to save my
own skin?

But Jesus gives his followers and us several reasons why our
hearts should not be troubled

1. Jesus reassures us that if he goes away it is only for
a short while, it is for our good, and he will come back to us

He says to his followers that he is going to prepare a
place for them. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also”. John 14:3

He is speaking about his arrest, his execution and his death.
He is going to go into death.

But what he is saying is that even though he is going away, and
they will feel abandoned and lost, it is for their sake. He is preparing a
place for them - and then he will come back to them.

Because Jesus died and rose, we know that he will never
leave us.

He promises that.

However, there are times when we feel abandoned and lost, when
Jesus is distant to us.

In Psalm 44, the Psalmist remembers the great festivals and
victories of the people of God. He speaks of how God was with his people. And
then he says, ‘Yet you have rejected us and abased us, and have not gone out
with our armies’ – even though the people have remained faithful to you.

But when God stands a little off, he has not abandoned us.
He always gives us the strength to persevere, and to hold on, and the necessary
glimpses of him that we need. And it will not be for long.

And the reason he distances himself from us is for our benefit,
for our greater joy: maybe it is to make us stronger, to teach us something
new, or to make us aware of our dependence on him, or so that we have that
greater longing for him and his Father’s house.

2. Jesus reassures us that the only way to the Father is
through him.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me”. John 14:6

Jesus says to his followers that the only way to the Father, to a right and holy life, to a relationship with God the Father, to intimacy with God, is through him.

We are not going to
get to the Father, to God through our own prayers, our own devotions or our
own right living.

We are not going to get to the Father because of our knowledge
of the bible or the number of times we have live streamed church.

We are not going to get to the Father because of our own wisdom,
faithfulness, commitment, integrity or love.

Peter discovered that.

For three years he had followed Jesus

He swore that he would always be loyal to Jesus, that he would
die for him.

And then, in a moment, it is all gone. He denies him.

When that happens, Peter is heartbroken. He has let Jesus
down. He has let the other disciples down. He has let himself down.

Story of the three balloons

Peter felt awful when he denied Jesus. We’re told that he
goes out and weeps. He must have thought it was the end.

If God existed, he was up there and Peter was down here, and
God would want to have nothing more to do with him. All that effort had been
futile

But Peter does not have to wait long. The risen Jesus comes
to him.

And Peter runs to him. In fact, he swims to him!

And Jesus welcomes Peter and just as Peter denied Jesus
three times, so Jesus commissions Peter three times.

Peter learns so much.

He learns about the love and forgiveness of Jesus for
sinners.

He realises that if his faith depends on his own strength and
will power, it will let him down.

He learns that Jesus is the one who is the way into the presence
of the Father.

And that is our assurance

We don’t need to be strong, or wise, or good or make
heartfelt commitments or belong to the right ‘tribe’. We do not get to the
Father through that.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

And all we can do is to come to him and trust him for everything.

People sometimes say: ‘I have a strong faith. I love Jesus’

That is great, but the subject of that sentence is wrong.

It would be far far better to say: ‘My faith is weak. I don’t
know how much I love Jesus. But I know that he loves me, that he is the way and
I have come to him’.

3. Jesus reassures us that He will answer our prayers

“I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the
Father may be glorified in the Son”. John 14:13

One of the reasons that we feel let down by God is that we
read verses like this, we pray in Jesus name – and nothing happens.

When we pray, we think of it as a bit like this:

This is me – this is Jesus. 🙏

We come to Jesus and we pray for what we want. And sometimes
our prayers are answered – someone we love who is sick gets better, we get a
new job with a bigger salary, and good things happen for us and those we pray
for. But sometimes the person we pray for dies, or bad things happen for us and
for those we pray for.

But this is not praying in Jesus name. It is praying in our own
name in front of Jesus

Asking for just what we want is not prayer.

We’re treating him like a servant: do what I want. Make them
love me.

And when we don’t get what we want, then we think either that
we are not praying right - maybe we need to pray longer or harder, or make some
sort of sacrifice, or fast or do some great spiritual feat

Or – as is more usually the case – we think that God has let
us down, if he even exists.

We come to Jesus and the Holy Spirit unites us with Jesus,
so that we become part of him, are united with him, just as he is united with the
Father.

‘If you know me, you will know my Father also’ (v7)

‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (v8)

‘Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me’
(v11)

The Holy Spirit wants to work in us and so unite us to Jesus,
so that his way of thinking become our way of thinking, his works become our
works. His desires become our desires. His joy becomes our joy. And so his
requests become our requests, and our requests his requests. And when we ask,
he asks.

I think our problem with this verse is that we do not understand
the incredible richness or freedom of what it means to pray in Jesus’ name.

We want to be healthy, wealthy and wise. We want power and happiness
– no, more than that, we want our deepest desires to be fulfilled. We want
peace, and we want glory: to be respected and honoured. We want to live long.

What he wants for us is so much more.

He wants us to be people who live well not just for 70 or 80
years but for eternity.

He wants us to know his love for us and to be filled with
love; to know that our health and wealth and wisdom, our power and happiness,
our fulfilment, peace and glory is wrapped up with the health, wealth, wisdom,
power, happiness, fulfilment, peace and glory of others. That our life is tied
up with their life. And that when we pray for that life for others, we pray
that for ourselves

And if we truly come to him, and allow him to come into us –
just, for instance, as we eat the bread and wine and it comes into us, or just
as when we read and meditate and learn his word and it comes into us - so he
changes our thinking and our desires

Of course we pray ‘for daily bread’.

We pray for those who suffer.

I’m sure you have prayed for deliverance from your enemies,
but have you, for instance, ever prayed that you would be filled with the love
of God for your enemies?

I’m sure we have prayed for wealth and success in this
world, but have you ever prayed that you would be set free from prioritising
the things of this world so that you can live for the things that really matter
– the things of that world?

I’m sure we’ve prayed that those we love will be healed from
sickness, but have you ever prayed that they will never die?

Because those are the sort of prayers that he would pray in
and through you. And those are the prayers
– if prayed in his name - that he says he will answer.

It may well not be in your timing, or in your way.

It may even mean that he will move away from you for a short
while.

It may mean that you or I crash in our faith for a short
while.

But he will answer, and he will do it.

Most of us will have times when we feel deserted by God

All of us will have times when we have failed God – sometimes
quite spectacularly.

Jesus reassures us, as he reassures his first followers

1. There will be times when he is distant – but it is only for
a short while and it is for our own benefit.

2. We don’t need to do anything apart from throw ourselves
on his mercy. It is not about us. It is about him. He is the way.

3. And he will work in us and change us, and he will unite us
to himself, and he will answer our prayers – in ways that are far more
wonderful than we could ask or imagine.

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Other Apps

Comments

Post a comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Advent carol service Leader The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;Choir Those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shoneChoir O nata lux de lumine – Tallis (O light, born of light)

Leader In this service, we join with brothers and sisters around the world, and light candles to mark the signs that God has given to his people as we journey through Advent. FIRST CANDLE: Abraham and Sarah, to whom the promise was first given. We light our first candle to recall the men and women of faith in the Old Testament, to whom the promise would be given. 4000 years before the birth of Christ, God told Abraham and Sarah that one of their descendants would destroy sin and death, rule the world and bless all nations.

(A person lights the First Candle)

Leader Let us prayAll God of Abraham and Sarah and all the Patriarchs of old, we thank you for the promise that you have given us. Help us, like A…

Acts 2:37-47 Peter, in Acts 2:40, urges the people who listen to him: ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation’ How could he say that? How can you call any generation corrupt? It is very simple. Peter is speaking to a generation which has crucified the Son of God. Some people here may be landlords. I don’t know whether you ever have any problems getting rent. If you do, God knows what it is like! Jesus tells a story about a vineyard. The owner gave it to some people. He said to them, ‘Look after it for me. Care for it, enjoy it. All I ask is that you remember that it belongs to me, that it is my gift to you, and give me what is mine when I send my messengers to you for the rent. The owner goes away. Some time later he sends a messenger. The tenants beat up the messenger and send him away with nothing. The owner sends another messenger. The tenants do the same thing to him. Finally the owner says, ‘I will send my own son. He will come with my full authority. They will respect him’. Bu…

Children are a gift from God. And as always with God’s gifts to us, they are completely and totally undeserved. And you have been given the astonishing gift of Benjamin, and the immense privilege and joy of loving him for God, and of bringing him up for God. And of course our greatest desire for our children is to see them grow, be happy, be secure, flourish and to be fulfilled, to bring blessing to others, to be part of the family of God and to love God. And in baptism you are placing Benjamin full square in the family of God. I know that those of us here differ in our views about infant baptism. The belief and the practice of the Church of England is in line with that of the historic church, but also – at the time of the Reformation – of Calvin and the other so-called ‘magisterial reformers’ (which is also the stance taken in the Westminster confession). They affirmed, on the basis of their covenantal theology (which sees baptism as a new covenant version of circumcision), of Mark 10:1…